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Xon
Xon '''is a retired Starfleet officer, scientist and part-time smuggler, assigned to Outpost Eden as a scientific researcher. Statistics Appearance * '''Height: 1.78 meters * Weight: 70 kilos (154lbs) * Hair Color: Grey, formerly black * Eye Color: Blue/grey with central heterochromia, creating a gold halo around the pupil * Skin Tone: White, with a green tinge due to copper-based blood * Taste in Clothing: Xon clings stubbornly to old Starfleet uniform codes, wearing division turtlenecks or other warm base layers under a moth-eaten officer's utility waistcoat which he has owned since 2275. He also owns a 2282-issue temperature-controlled field excursion jacket in classic 'monster maroon' red, and he is very proud of it. * Voice: Xon has a nasal voice and a cut-glass accent, usually employed to make sarcastic remarks about his colleagues * Handedness: Right * Distinguishing marks: '''Ankle-tattoo from imprisonment in Rura Penthe in 2322, scarring on torso from disruptor blast sustained in 2286, scars on both arms and legs from ritual combat with his ex-wife in 2301 Family * '''Marital Status: Divorced ** Former Spouse (Deceased) '''Lucy S'Rellian - a cadet whom Xon instructed aboard the ''USS Intrepid, ''and later married through a ritual Vulcan bonding ceremony. Lucy and Xon separated in 2305 due to Lucy's mental health issues. * '''Children: ** Xonian S'Rellian, an officer at Starfleet Research & Development. Xon and his son have not spoken in several decades. * Parents: ** Father (Deceased): '''Garus t'Mehrian, a Romulan warbird commander who was executed by the Tal Shiar in 2244 ** '''Mother (Deceased): T'Par, an officer of the Vulcan Security Directorate who died on the failed Romulan colony world of Thieurrull in 2397 Personal history Xon is a half-Vulcan, half-Romulan scientist who served in Starfleet during the late 23rd century, most notably as Science Officer, and eventually First Officer, of the Constitution-class starship USS Intrepid. Xon retired from Starfleet with the rank of Commander over seventy years ago, and fell into obscurity, but the establishment of Outpost Eden has coaxed him back into service as a civilian science specialist. Childhood Xon was born in the slums of Ki Bataran, the Romulan capital, in the year 2236. His father was a warbird commander in the Romulan Galae and his mother was an operative sent across the neutral zone by the Vulcan Security Directorate. Xon spent his early childhood playing in the street with other Romulan children, ignoring his mother's lessons in logic, and blissfully unaware that his parents were conspiring to commit high treason. After a failed attempt to destabilise the Romulan government, Xon's parents fled to the infamous Romulan planet of Thieurrull, known as 'Hellguard' in Federation Standard: a failed colony world which was a hub of piracy and political exiles for most of the 23rd century. Xon had a feral childhood, wrestling in the gutter with other impoverished Romulan children, until the Tal Shiar finally tracked down his father and had him assassinated when Xon was eight years old. Xon's mother managed to send him back to Vulcan, to be raised in the Han-shir monastery by monks who were unaware of Xon's Romulan heritage. The young Xon did not take well to monastic life. Even after he stopped biting the monks and trying to escape into the desert, he responded poorly to any attempts to suppress his emotions or instil Vulcan mental discipline. As a teenager, Xon developed a superiority complex and an ego the size of a small moon, but he also demonstrated a considerable aptitude - and enthusiasm - for mathematics and all branches of stellar science. The monks knew that there was no chance of such an undisciplined, prideful, emotional student being accepted into the Vulcan Science Academy, so they advised Xon to apply for Starfleet Academy. He took their advice, hoping that it would give him opportunities to observe interesting phenomena, write award-winning research papers, and dissect strange alien lifeforms. Due mostly to lack of interest, Xon performed poorly in all areas of his academy studies except for astrophysics, stellar mechanics and comparative exobiology. He failed his basic aptitude tests in command and combat training - barring him from active fleet service - but he was accepted as a graduate student, with a fellowship at Starfleet Research & Development. His psychological profiles during this period noted his scientific detachment, lack of empathy, irritability, dislike of authority, and apparent inability to refrain from sarcastic comments, as well as difficulty forming friendships. He was reprimanded several times for his disturbing habit of acquiring diverse animal specimens from across the Federation and importing them without a license, conducting his own exploratory dissections with considerable enthusiasm. His shady friends in the illegal imports business would remain friends for life, much to his later detriment. USS Intrepid In 2260, Xon was helping to install the new sensor suite onboard the USS Intrepid when the ship was dispatched to answer a distress call. Lacking a science officer, Captain Jacob Rolands gave Lieutenant Xon a field promotion and ordered him to man the bridge science station. During the mission, Xon's sarcasm and deeply eccentric behaviour (for a Vulcan) managed to irritate the entire bridge crew except for Captain Rolands, who found Xon amusing, and submitted a request for the odd Vulcan to be assigned to the Intrepid on a permanent basis. Starfleet Research & Development were happy to be rid of him, and Xon was happy to get the opportunity to travel the galaxy and catalogue alien lifeforms as a frontier scientist. Finding that he enjoyed working on a starship, Xon served on the Intrepid for over thirty years as the Ship's Xenobiologist, Chief Science Officer, and eventually First Officer, under three different commanding officers. Detailed information on Xon's activities during this period can be located in the Intrepid's original mission logs. Xon was directly involved in first contact with forty-two new civilisations, the classification of over 100 species of flora and fauna, and the discovery of several exotic astroparticles previously unknown to science - as well as over thirty violations of the Prime Directive and no less than seventeen intergalactic incidents which have yet to be fully declassified by Starfleet Intelligence. Late Career Xon's decades of service among humans mellowed him out slightly, but did nothing to burn away his planet-sized ego. He became less petulant than he had been in his early career, and succeeded in making several genuine friends, including Doctor Christopher Grant, the Chief Medical Officer of the Intrepid. ''He also grew capable of taking his duties seriously long enough to serve capably - if a little unorthodoxly - as the First Officer of the ''Intrepid, during it's life as a cadet training ship in the 2290s. He retained his clinical view of the world, his scientific detachment, and his lack of empathy, but became slightly better at forming and maintaining friendly personal relationships, even becoming a kind of father figure to many of the oddball cadets that were assigned to the Intrepid. Xon grew very protective of his cadets, often being far too tolerant of their failures or eccentricities, and succeeded in turning his ship into a refuse dump for problematic cadets who didn't score highly enough on their aptitude tests to be assigned to other vessels, many of whom should have been discharged from the fleet. Once such cadet was a young Vulcan woman named Lucy S'Rellian, who became infatuated with Xon. Lucy made her affections very clear and pursued Xon relentlessly, even threatening to starve herself and throw herself out of an airlock if Xon didn't reciprocate. Xon had never been particularly interested in romantic affection - always considering the opposite sex to be an annoying distraction from science - and his lack of experience led him to deal with the situation very poorly. He eventually succumbed and agreed to bond with Lucy, hoping that it would allow her to focus on her studies and fulfil her potential as a Starfleet officer. This proved to be a poor decision. Lucy's mental health did not improve, and after she failed to graduate for the fourth time, Xon reluctantly recommended that she should be discharged from the fleet. In retribution, Lucy attacked Xon with a lirpa - intending to kill him - and after she was disarmed, she was reassigned to a Starfleet correctional facility. Upon her release, Lucy refused to release Xon from their martial bond, and he had to fight her to the death in a ritual ceremony atop Mount Selaya in Vulcan's Forge. Xon triumphed, but spared her life. He has always regretted his handling of the whole affair. Private Explorer The Intrepid ''was finally decommissioned in 2302, making it one of the last three ''Constitution ''class ships in active service. The crew retired or moved onto other assignments. Xon felt as though he was being pushed off a cliff. He was appalled by the idea of a desk job at Starfleet Command, or a teaching position at the academy. He had been a frontier scientist on the ''Intrepid ''for almost forty years, and he was unwilling to accept the idea of change. Fortunately for Xon, an opportunity presented itself. Rather than mothballing the ''Intrepid ''or sending her to the breaker’s yard, Starfleet decided to give the ship away in an auction, settled by debate. Several planetary defence forces, royal starfleets, museums and private collectors made very good cases for why they ought to inherit ownership of the ''Intrepid, ''but Xon somehow managed to make a case which convinced the board. Xon was given a master's license and the ''Intrepid ''was passed into his hands. Many members of the ship's old crew returned as civilians, and the ''Intrepid ''operated for over a decade as a private survey vessel, contracted by the Federation Science Council for deep-space exploration missions, cataloguing new planets and quasar-like phenomena in the uncharted regions of the Alpha Quadrant. Nothing could have made Xon happier. '''Scientist and Smuggler' Unfortunately, this wasn’t to last. Xon started to mix with questionable company. The ageing Intrepid ''required constant maintenance, and repair crews at licensed Federation spacedock facilities no longer had the components, the expertise, or the patience to refit a seventy-year-old ship. Xon’s superior attitude did little to help, until several Starfleet facilities refused him permission to dock. In retaliation, Xon announced that he was avoiding all Starfleet facilities on point of principal, and thus the ''Intrepid ''started to visit more and more backwater spaceports in the hinterlands of the Federation. Xon already had friends in the smuggling business from his days at the academy, and these friends introduced him to other friends, some of whom worked for the Orion Syndicate. It wasn’t long before the ''Intrepid ''was occasionally augmenting its survey missions by carrying cargo of a slightly-less-than-legal variety, moving contraband around the Federation under the legitimate guise of the ship's contract with the Federation Science Council. Enjoying this piratical lifestyle, Xon started to gamble whenever the ship was in port, and his original scientific vision for the ''Intrepid ''began to take a back seat. This sort of behaviour eventually drove away most of Xon’s crew, including the ship’s surgeon, one of his oldest friends. Abandonment only made Xon's gambling problems worse. Eventually, the fatal day came. Xon was playing a high-stakes game of fizzbin on Helaspont Station, whilst under the influence of Romulan Ale. He had a winning hand – a royal fizzbin - but was out of credit, so he decided to throw his ship into the bet. His friends warned him against it, but he didn’t listen: and was devastated when his opponent, an Orion mob boss, beat Xon’s royal fizzbin with an extremely rare hand called a supernova. Xon went back to the Intrepid ‘to inform his crew of the bad news’, but actually jumped port and tried to make a run for it, only to be chased down by the Orions and forced to surrender his ship. After he watched the Orions warp away with the ''Intrepid ''in tow, Xon spent several weeks racking up a tab in the bar on Helaspont Station, not sure what to do with himself. Then he swore never to drink again until he'd reclaimed the ''Intrepid, got a shuttle back to Earth, and disappeared. Wilderness years Xon thinks of the next few decades of his life as his 'wilderness years'. He doesn’t like to go into detail about it, but it is known that he had a string of academic jobs at low-profile universities, and that he worked for Starfleet now and then, but also tried his hand at a range of new hobbies such as painting, gastronomy, and amateur archaeology, several of which nearly got him killed or arrested. His attempts to locate the Intrepid ''and reclaim it were all unsuccessful, and he developed a nihilistic, fatalist outlook on life, longing for the glory days of his past and settling into the role of cantankerous old man as he passed his centennial birthday. He eventually inherited another ship from one of his smuggler friends: an antiquated Rigellian tramp freighter named the ''Ruby Sunbird. The ship - which Xon hates - has been Xon's primary mode of transport and base of operations for a quixotic mixture of exploration, scientific observation, adventuring, running from the Orion Syndicate, and smuggling Romulan ale into the Federation. He was arrested by Starfleet during the 2350s for running guns to the Bajoran Resistance, and remained in custody until 2365, after which he retired to Risa with the intent of enjoying himself until old age or the Orion Syndicate caught up with him. Xon was angered and frustrated when Romulus – his birthplace –was destroyed in the Hobus star explosion. He had hoped for most of his life that he might be able to return to Romulus and walk the streets of Ki Bataran, where he’d spent his childhood. Given his age, his lengthy retirement, and his criminal record, Xon was very surprised when Starfleet offered him a specialist position at Outpost Eden. He had always disliked the Romulan Empire, but his knowledge of different Romulan dialects made him a valuable asset, as did his connections in the underworld on both sides of the former Neutral Zone. He was tempted to remain in retirement, but as a scientist, he couldn't pass up the opportunity to answer two fascinating scientific conundrums – why is everything on the planet poisonous, and why did the Hobus star go hypernova? Service history